Though it was announced right before the opening prayer for the performers, animals and soldiers, that video's were forbidden during the show due to copyright laws, it seems someone was tapeing at the time if the incident. Jason Arendt posted it to KALB News Channel 5's Facebook page.

The video clearly shows the motorcycle rider start off his jump just fine when he loses his bike, fell and missed the inflatable safety device. He hit a steel barrier falling a good distance to the ground. Bystanders say that the young man was obviously injured.

One woman, Heather McVaugh, stated on KALB News Channel 5's Facebook that, "He did break something seen him at hospital, He broke his femur." Many of the others in their feed were back and forth on whether or not the animals were being mistreated, and their views about their captivity.

Heather Daigrepont posted, "I saw the fall ,sat night front row and I came here to see if anyone knew more about his condition, not their views on animal rights. If anyone knows this guy, please let us know his condition because I keep reading different things. Thank you."

No one was reporting on the incident locally, but the questions about who the young man was and how he was doing continued to roll in. I ask KALB News Channel 5 on their Facebook page they answered ,"Hey Spring. From what we could find out, he's alive and should be A-OK." Finally, KALB did investigate the incident and they found out through Cenla Shrine President Clay Brister that, "the rider is not seriously injured and no broken bones were reported." He went on to tell the KALB news team that, Mr. Brister said the rider will be fine and should be back in the saddle with the circus in about a month."

There were several stunts that kept me on the edge of my seat. One other motorcycle stunt on Saturday got off to a rocky start, but ended well thanks to a sharp eye of one of the women being carried underneath the high wire and motorcycle itself. Another that was very dangerous, but handled amazingly was the steel cage motorcycle show. Without a doubt the people preforming are professionals, and they all did a great job.

It was a close call and way too close to the February 2014 Shrine Circus motorcycle incident where motorcycle stuntman Julian Gomez was gravely injured in a show. Another incident happened with the Shrine Circus earlier this month where a motorcycle rider was injured during a performance at the Tyson Event Center.

Ben Venya over jumped a 75-foot gap and hit a wall. Like the incident Sunday, the riders crash was witnessed by the entire crowd of spectators.Ben Venya, Las Vegas was ok, and he later released a statement saying that, "I'm good, like I said, if it was easy, everyone could do it. That's why there's only a few people in the world that do it and not everyone can get back up after they crash and want to continue with it."

In Alexandria's Shrine Circus event emergency personnel was noticeably on standby, so they were prepared for an accident should it happen. They were already in the scene when the rider fell.

One spectator said, "It was a great show, and I would take my family back to it; when you go to an event like this there is always a risk, but obviously the prayer of the Shriners worked on Sunday."

The young man's name has not been released. Again, he is doing fine, and the rumors of a broken back and other broken bones has not been verified. As a matter of fact, our local Shrine President said that there were no reported broken bones at all.

Sources say that the young man is anxious to get back on his bike and perform again.

Share this article

Spring was born in Houston Texas. She is a single mother, and she is especially dedicated to giving a voice to crime victims, children and the families of those victims. She also does volunteer work with Uplifting Change Through Healing Words acting as an advocate to bring awareness to and freedom from domestic violence.
Spring is not afraid to step outside of the box and speak on what others may be afraid to say. She is not a believer in media censorship, and if it is an issue she will hit it head on. She is a veteran writer, and with her work you are getting high quality, well researched content.
Her stories are many times very personal to her, the cause and she aims to make a difference.
One day trends may drive her towards a winter weather storm that is affecting the nation and the next she may be trying to track down a missing child or child predator, but whatever it is you had best believe this long time Examiner is going to keep it real while offering verifiable sources to back up what she is reporting on.
She also does local reviews on services and businesses in the Alexandria, La. area, as well as local and national news and events. She can be reached at spring.lee@aol.com.